


Prediction

by Schrodingers_Rufus



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Arson, Blood, Clairvoyance, Ficlet, Flash Fic, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Prompt Fic, Seizures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 22:30:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16861387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schrodingers_Rufus/pseuds/Schrodingers_Rufus
Summary: Originally posted to Tumblr on March 14, 2017.Prompt: F - Clairvoyant predicting disaster AU





	Prediction

Jay tossed a bag of peanuts his way, and Tim snatched it out of the air. Muttering a quiet “thanks”, he tore it open, a few stray peanuts falling into his lap. It wasn’t much, but it was protein, and god knew he and Jay needed it.  _Especially_  Jay.

He felt tension creeping up the back of his scalp, and he reached back to knead at it. Must’ve had his neck at an odd angle in the car, or maybe the AC had been on and he hadn’t noticed. The tension spread, shooting down his shoulders and back, and recognition set in with a jolt.

He hadn’t had one of these in  _months_ , and he was starting to think his medication had blocked them out just like it did the seizures. He honestly wouldn’t have minded–and just as he thought it, he felt a cluster of muscles running up his left side spasm and then go loose, sending him stumbling sideways out of his chair. He managed to call out for Jay just as he hit the carpet, his voice cracking on impact.

Jay was at his side in an instant, though whether it was from concern or just curiosity, Tim wasn’t sure.

“You okay?” Jay leaned over him, peering down. “You need your, uh–?” He twitched a lanky arm out to point to the pill bottle, still sitting on the desk.

“No–no,” Tim wheezed, his vision growing hazy. “It’s one of the other, the–”

“Oh!” Tim couldn’t make out his expression through the fog, but it sounded like he’d caught on. There was some shuffling beside him, and then Jay’s voice came again, much closer. “So we just wait it out, see what you see?”   
  
Tim snorted. “Basically.”

And then his head was spinning, there were sparks flashing in front of his eyes, and he had to stumble to catch his balance– _wasn’t he just on the floor?_

There was a knock at the door. He didn’t approach, not yet.

He called out as softly as he could manage while still being heard, asking who it was.

“It’s me.” It took a few seconds for the voice to register as Jay’s. There was something off about it, an unfamiliar tension that raised goosebumps on the back of Tim’s neck. “Come on, open up.”

Tim reached forward, gingerly unlatching the lock before stepping back and away. He tried to keep his voice even. “It’s open.”

From his hiding place around the corner, Tim could hear Jay open the door hard, slamming it against the wall. There was some quiet shuffling, indecisive, and just as Tim was about to spring forward, keep him from trying whatever he was planning to do, a voice cut through the silence.

“Where are you, Tim?” It was a dull drawl, yet it still had a mocking sing-song quality to it, and it was  _unsettlingly_  familiar. “Stop playing games and come out.”

That was Jay’s voice, Tim realized with uncanny conviction, but  _those weren’t his words._

Tim heard the wet slosh of  _something_  on the kitchen floor as he inched closer. “This is what you wanted, right? Me and you?”

Jay paused before speaking again. “Here I am.”

Tim heard an all-too-familiar  _click_  and something small clattering to the floor.

He rounded the corner just in time to watch his kitchen catch fire.

Jay stood at the center of it, flames reflecting off his eyes– _Tim had always thought they made him look like a deer caught in the headlights_ –as he stared directly forward, as if he was daring Tim to try to stop him. To try to save him.

The flames licked the edges of his jacket, the edges of his jeans, but Jay didn’t pay them any mind.

Then, all at once, he jerked back, doubled over, clutching his side. Tim could see red seeping out from between his fingers.

Instinctually, Tim stepped forward, reaching for him, but Jay drew back further into the flames.

Still doubled over, a hand across his stomach, Jay tilted his head up and locked eyes with Tim. Tense and shaking, those familiar wide-set eyes shining, he rasped, “ _This is your fault._ ”

—

Tim jolted back to consciousness, nearly colliding with Jay– _oh god, Jay_ –as he tried to sit up. He clenched his hands into fists to try to stop the shaking. It didn’t work.

“So?” Jay asked expectantly, something like a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “What was it?”

Tim took a moment to catch his breath, but thinking about breathing just seemed to make it worse; he could feel his heart beating faster, his throat constricting–

“ _Shh, shh…_ ” Tim could see Jay backing away, though his words sounded like an attempt at comfort. “It’s alright, you’re…back from wherever…you’ve been, I guess.”

_Breathe in…2, 3, 4…out…2, 3, 4…_

Tim covered his face in his hands. When he spoke, he could hear it was muffled. “I’m back.”   
  
“You’re back,” Jay repeated hesitantly.

“Yeah.”   _In, 2, 3, 4, out, 2, 3, 4._ “That was…something.”

“What was it?” Jay sounded impatient, and while Tim couldn’t bring himself to laugh if he tried, some distant part of him still found it funny. Jay continued, pacing. “I mean, what did you see?”

Tim brought his hands away from his face and tried to dig them into his pockets.  _Keys, wallet…where’s the–?_ There was no tape. There shouldn’t have been–it was still at his house, but the fact that he expected to find it in his pocket unsettled him. There was something he was missing.

“I think I–” Tim spoke carefully. “I think I need some time to think about it…before I can really explain it.”

Something dangerous flashed across Jay’s eyes, but before Tim could even fully register it, it was replaced by Jay’s usual jittery curiosity. “Nothing? I mean, if you need time, whatever, but you’re…planning to say it eventually, right?”  

“Yeah.” Tim sighed, leaned back against the leg of the hotel bed. “Eventually.”

Jay stared down at him. “What, like–?”   
  
“Soon,” Tim cut him off. “Soon, for sure. Maybe after we’re done at the house.”

Jay eyed him suspiciously before sitting down on the bed, head in his hands. “Assuming we’re alive at the end of it.”   
  
“Assuming that, yeah.”

“You swear.”

“ _Yes_ , Jay.” Tim groaned. “Pinky swear. Cross my heart and hope to die. I just…need time, okay?”

Jay unwrapped a stick of beef jerky, tearing into it with a bit more gusto than Tim was comfortable with. “We’re getting on the road tonight.”

“If you want–”   
  
“ _Yes._ ”

Tim didn’t argue.

Weeks later, he wondered if he should have.  


End file.
